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is launching a free shipping option for thousands of small items like cosmetics, in-ear headphones, mobile phone accessories, etc. Amazon accounts and minimum orders will not be required for the free shipping option. Amazon Prime is an annual subscription that offers free two-day shipping on millions of products, unlimited photo storage, Prime Instant Video, Amazon Prime Music, Kindle First and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

By offering a free shipping option, Amazon.com will be able to attract shoppers that are watching their budget. And those customers may potentially become Amazon Prime subscribers after learning more about it while visiting Amazon’s website. Amazon Prime currently costs $99 per year. Consumers may also be more inclined to finalize the sales of products after seeing "free shipping" options.

Many of Amazon’s customers currently wait until their shopping cart exceeded $35 to order products with free shipping. The new free shipping service covers products that weigh 8 ounces (230 grams) or less — which usually costs lower than $10, according to Bloomberg. The dimensions also have to be less than or equal to 9"x6"x2”. Amazon started to test out the free shipping program for its smaller items about 13 weeks ago.

Credit: Amazon.com

"The new program provides a cost effective way for sellers to offer low-cost items and for customers to get free shipping. It's a win-win for customers and sellers – the new program costs sellers less to ship an item than it would if they were to do it through their own fulfillment network," said Amazon spokesman Tom Cook via USA Today.

The delivery process is expected to take between four to eight business days from Amazon.com’s new shipping center in Florence, Kentucky. The logistics program that will handle the free shipping of the smaller goods is reportedly called Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light. Inventory will be provided by third-party merchants that pay a fee to Amazon for handling storage, packing and delivery of products.

This is not the only major announcement Amazon.com made about its delivery services recently. Last week, Amazon announced a new same-day delivery service to Prime subscribers of over 1 million items. However, those orders have to total over $35 and has to be placed before noon for same-day delivery otherwise it will be delivered the next day.

What are your thoughts about Amazon's new free delivery service? Let me know in the comments section!